Modern Assyrian/Syriac Diaspora in Sweden

Abstract

The monograph discusses up-to-date issues concerning the acculturation of a Middle Eastern group in a European country. The book is based on research conducted by the Author in 2014 in the Assyrian/Syriac diaspora in Sweden, within the framework of the “Defining and Identifying Middle Eastern Christian Communities in Europe” project. Assyrians/Syriacs (Assyrier/Syrianer) began to arrive in Scandinavia in the late 1960s, fleeing the wars and meagre economic prospects in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Today, they constitute an active diaspora which contributes in various ways to the development of its new homeland and numbers around 150 000 people. The Author describes Swedish migration and integration policies, the history of the Assyrian/Syriac community in the Middle East, the phases and forms of institutionalisation in Sweden, internal dynamics as well as the group’s relations with external actors and its transnational links. One of the main findings of the book is that the ethno-national identity of this community was largely constructed in the Swedish diaspora and is considerably more complex than it had previously been described in research. The identity in question is not a single construct, but rather a few – if not a few dozen – variants, although polarisation resulting from the divide between Assyrians and Arameans/Suryoye/Syriacs is visible.